FLINT -- The city is in the international spotlight today as Mayor Dayne Walling and Genesee County Treasurer Daniel T. Kildee offer competing ideas for what to do about the large amount of vacant land and abandoned homes in the city.

This report by Al Jazeera's Cath Turner focuses on the efforts of the county Land Bank to reuse some abandoned residential property as community gardens and small parks.

Kildee is chairman of the Land Bank for a few more days. Next year he will begin a new position, heading a national land use group.

Walling disagrees with that approach in this video report, commenting at one point, "The problem is trees don't pay taxes."

"To have a city that's growing and vibrant, you have to have people, you need to have jobs, you need to have businesses," he said.